Today's News

WASHINGTON:

DEMOCRATS on the House Banking Committee are charging that the Federal Reserve unfairly competes against private-sector couriers by subsidizing a fleet of planes to ferry checks across the country. Page 2

COMMUNITY activists blasted the Federal Reserve for approving Chemical's acquisition of Chase Manhattan before seeing the results of a community reinvestment review. Page 2

FINANCE:

J.P. MORGAN & Co., BankAmerica Corp., and Citicorp have won the lead on a $10 billion loan for Lockheed Martin Corp.'s acquisition of Loral Corp. Back page

FIRST BANK SYSTEM reported strong fourth quarter earnings of $150.7 million - perhaps slightly bolstering its case for acquiring First Interstate Bancorp. Back page

REGIONAL BANKING:

KEYCORP has launched a new product for firms with fewer than 100 employees in an effort to tap into the growing market for small-business retirement plans. Page 6

COMMUNITY BANKING:

AFTER MONTHS of bitter public wrangling, Suffolk Bancorp bought back 235,000 shares of its common stock from North Fork Bancorp., getting the Long Island archrival "out of their hair." Page 7

KENTUCKY will likely adopt an entirely new way of taxing its banks this year in a move prompted primarily by the approach of interstate branching. Page 7

MORTGAGES:

NORTH AMERICAN Mortgage ended 1995 with a bang, funding $862 million in loans and taking in $1.25 billion in loan applications in December, the lender's biggest month of the year. Page 8

THE GOVERNMENT shutdown, then the record-breaking blizzard, have left lenders longing for business as usual at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Page 8

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:

IN THE DISCREET tradition of Swiss banking, Bank Julius Baer has kept quiet during its half-century in the United States. Now, two new senior vice presidents in the New York office want to get the word out about the Zurich bank's private banking offerings. Page 14

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:

FIRST DATA has recruited Broadway & Seymour in a five-year, multimillion-dollar alliance to offer client/server-based systems that can help credit card banks devise targeted marketing campaigns. Page 10

NOW THAT Thomas F. Chapman has successfully transformed the Equifax credit bureau into a diversified financial information provider, he's taking on a big chunk of the firm's international operations. Page 10

TECHNOLOGY:

HOME FINANCIAL Network - the brainchild of Meca Software's founders - has set out to provide a stripped-down alternative to services combining financial management and banking through personal computer software. Page 16

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